Singles Awareness Day
by bookluvr4life
Summary: Hermione, depressed and alone on Valentine's Day, is dragged out to a muggle club by her wellmeaning friends and meets someone she didn't expect to see who gives her a new perspective. ONESHOT


Singles Awareness Day

Disclaimer: I don't have Hermione Granger, any of her friends, enemies, or teachers hiding in my bedroom… all I have is chocolate… that I sent myself…

This ficlet was inspired by the too-many romance stories out there, my insane loneliness, my love for Remus Lupin, and of course, my friend Jim (who will be introduced in the story).

Well, I knew it would be coming, and here it is: Valentine's Day. Stupid day for stupid romantics in their stupid relationships. My stupid friends dragged me to this stupid bar so they wouldn't feel guilty about me being alone and morose tonight. Wonderful planning, guys. They're all off snogging or grinding against each other. Except the one friend that's always been there for me. My good friend Jim. He's a pal. I met him one summer evening when my parents were gone. I was playing hide and go seek and I found him hiding in the pantry. He's best taken in small, quick doses and too much of him will give you a headache. Ooh, some of my so-called friends are coming back.

"Hey Hermione, how's it going?" Ginny asked as she sat on Harry's lap, despite the fact that there are many more chairs around the table.

"Wonderful." I said, lifting the glass in my hand

"You sure?" She doesn't believe me!

"Yup. Did you have a nice time shagging Harry in the bathroom?" Ha! That'll shut her up.

"Hermione! You don't have to be like that. I just wanted to see if you were having an ok time. You don't have get all bitchy on me."

"Well what do you expect? You drag me here and then leave me alone with my whiskey and you expect me to be having a good time?"

"This song goes out to all you couples in love out there." The dj's voice said, interrupting our conversation as the opening notes of "I Love the Way You Love Me" by John Michael Montgomery came on.

Ginny looked as Harry. Harry looked at Ginny. It was practically R-rated gazes. I sighed.  
"Go dance. I'll be fine."

"You sure?" Ginny asked to be a good friend.

"Yeah, go. Have fun; don't let me ruin your night." They got up and left. I looked down at the drink in my hand and sighed yet again. "Looks like it's just you and me again Jim."

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity, you know." said a deep voice somewhere in front of me. I looked up and grinned.

"For your information, I was talking to my good friend Jim Beam."

"Ah, my mistake. I wasn't aware that drinks made good conversation."  
I set the glass down and looked at it before looking back at him. "They don't. How 'bout you sit down and we can talk for a bit." He sat down in the chair next to me. I took a good, long look at the man in front of me.

"You look good." I finally said, breaking the silence.

"You too." He said before we both lapsed into silence again.

"Look, Remus, I know we did some stuff and it's been awhile since we've talked, but we _can_ still talk to each other, right? We don't have to act like a couple of teenagers."  
"You're barely out of your teens, Hermione." He said with a slightly sad smile.

"I'm twenty-three, thank you _very_ much." I said, with a bit more hostility than was probably warranted.

"Whoa, relax. I was just saying…"  
"What were you just saying, exactly?"  
"Just... I don't know. Can we change the topic? What are you doing here?"  
"I am wallowing in my misery as my friends get horny on the dance floor. You?"

"Celebrating."

"Ooh! I could use some happiness, what are you celebrating?" I asked eagerly, leaning forward in my chair, desperate for some good news. He leant forward and started whispering.

"I am celebrating Singles Awareness Day." He raised his voice back up to a normal level "It's a wonderful day filled with love and romance and utter sappiness as the couples of the world see everything through rose-tinted glasses and the rest of us poor sops are left to be completely aware that we do not have a special someone in our lives and as we get older, it becomes less and less likely that we will find them."

"Cheers." I said, lifting my once-again-full glass. Sometimes I really love being a witch.

"I'm not usually upset about being single." I told him in a fit of complete honesty. "Really, I'm not. It's just that with everyone around being all happy and in love, I feel lonely." And the tears started leaking. "I don't have that in my life and I want it. I want someone to love me and hold me and tell me I'm beautiful and all that. Why don't I have that? What's wrong with me?" I asked, sobbing. He got out of his chair and pulled me up onto my feet to give me a big hug.

"Shh." He murmured into my hair. "There's nothing wrong with you, Herms. You're smart and funny and beautiful. Men are scared of that. You're wonderful; it's all the men that have the problems, not you. Never you. Shh. It's ok. It'll be alright, you'll see. Shh."

I looked up at him and saw something that I hadn't ever seen in his eyes before. I didn't know quite what it was, but I knew I needed to kiss him. So I did. It was a good kiss, and when I pulled back I knew. "Thank you Remus. You're a good friend." I pulled out of his embrace.

"Yeah," he said, running his hand through his hair, "At least we know for sure now. No awkwardness?"

"Of course not." I said, shooing the thought away like an annoying fly.

"'Cause before…"

"I know what happened before, but it's different now." I saw the look he was giving me. "It just is!" I paused for a moment, "Unless of course, you don't want to talk to me for several more months and then have an awkward Christmas dinner at the Weasley's."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Yeah, I know. You know what? We should dance. We're both smart, attractive people, why should we be miserable? We should be celebrating!"

"Celebrating what?" he asked with a slight smile on his face.

I leant in, like it was a big secret.

"Singles Awareness Day."


End file.
